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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29136858">the one whose favour you bear</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/HuiLian/pseuds/HuiLian'>HuiLian</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Queen's Thief - Megan Whalen Turner</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Gen, Mentions of miscarriage, a conversation between a guard and his king, maybe? - Freeform, minimal editing we die like mne, or like pol; in this fandom, post TAT</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 07:21:44</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,346</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29136858</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/HuiLian/pseuds/HuiLian</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>They stayed in that silent staring until eventually, still with the same even tone and blank expression, the king said again, "You may hate me, if you wish." </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Costis thought about everything the king had done, and about everything the king had inadvertently caused Costis to do. He thought of his journey through what felt like the entirety of the Mede Empire, and of everything he now knew Kamet felt every second of that journey. He thought about every single lie the king had told him, and about every single time he infuriated Costis. </em>
</p><p><em>It would have been so easy to hate him, if only it wasn't so hard. </em><br/>---<br/>In between the courtroom scene and Eugenides showing up at Kamet's room, Costis had a conversation with his king.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Eugenides &amp; Costis Ormentiedes</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>53</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>the one whose favour you bear</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>this was inspired (almost) by that ACOK line, <em> "Eugenides didn't expect to be forgiven. </em>, and that entire sequence when Gen was so cold and distant to poor Sophos. I thought a similar thing would have happened with Costis after that reveal that Eugenides had lied the entire way through TAT. </p><p>title from Bow to the Crown by Heather Dale. </p><p>enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Once they had taken Kamet away--after that declaration from the king that showed even Costis had no idea of the scope of Eugenides’s planning and interventions--they showed Costis to a room in the palace. It was a nice room. Nicer than the ones he had in the barracks, and far, far, nicer than the dungeons. </p><p>He would have traded the room for that well in Zaboar if it meant seeing Kamet again. </p><p>He was technically no longer under arrest. He could leave if he chose; there were no guards outside his door, and the attendants who had shown him this room hadn’t said anything. There was nothing stopping him from leaving, except for the unshakable certainty that Eugenides will come to find him. </p><p>He could still leave, if he wanted to. There was no place in the palace of Attolia that Attolis could not get to. But the feeling that was growing in his chest, a combination of disbelief and incredulity and fury and grief and bitterness and even, shockingly, a sense of betrayal, stopped him from stepping a foot outside the door. </p><p>His patience was rewarded, hours later, with the sound of a door opening. It was a reward, because Eugenides is more than capable of opening the door without a sound. </p><p>Costis knew that much. </p><p>"Your Majesty," he said deliberately. </p><p>Eugenides stood in the doorway, with an expression that was as blank and cold as the mountains of Eddis. It was a far cry from the kind smile he had given Kamet earlier, or even the tired expression that he had had when he entered the courtroom. Costis has never seen him look like this before--he has seen the king deliberately made a fool of himself, he has seen the king so furious he turned green, he has seen the king look like a god reincarnated to walk in this earth, but he has never seen him look like this before, utterly blank and devoid of any emotion. </p><p>Right now, with all of his own emotions rumbling inside his chest, Costis couldn't bring himself to care. </p><p>"I would have done it again," Eugenides said evenly, meeting Costis’s eyes. It was like he knew exactly what to say and how to say it to infuriate Costis even further, and said it for just that purpose.</p><p>Costis didn’t trust himself to not punch the king in the face again if he allowed himself to react, so he simply stared back at him. Even his eyes, the ones that were normally always glinting with mischief, were flat and dead.</p><p>They stayed in that silent staring until eventually, still with the same even tone and blank expression, the king said again, "You may hate me, if you wish." </p><p>Costis thought about everything the king had done, and about everything the king had inadvertently caused Costis to do. He thought of his journey through what felt like the entirety of the Mede Empire, and of everything he now knew Kamet felt every second of that journey. He thought about every single lie the king had told him, and about every single time he infuriated Costis. </p><p>It would have been so easy to hate him, if only it wasn't so hard. </p><p>Costis allowed himself a small sigh. He plucked the ring from his ear, the one that Eugenides himself had given him, and walked across the small length of the room, stopping right in front of the king. Eugenides still wore his blank expression, but this time, Costis remembered how easily the king had been able to hide everything about himself, so much so that only when he was half-asleep and delirious with a nightmare did he sound like an Eddisian. </p><p>The king was able to weave his emotions into a cover so well no one even tried to look beyond, and so what did it mean, that the only cover left in the king’s face was a blank expression?</p><p>Costis dropped to his knees in front of his king, placed the seal ring back into Eugenides's finger, and pressed his lips to the ring. Then, he pressed Eugenides’s hand onto his eyes, and said, "I do not wish to hate you, My King."</p><p>He stayed there, until Eugenides said, “Oh, get up, Costis.”</p><p>The king’s voice didn’t change, but when Costis stood up, he could see the life coming back to the king’s eyes. Here was his king, and if he had lied and deceived and schemed his way around Costis’s life, well, Costis knew that when he had sworn to follow him and his god. </p><p>Eugenides sat down on one of the chairs in the room, and gestured at Costis to do the same. The closest one to where Eugenides was seated was the bed, so Costis shrugged and sat down on it. It reminded him of a day months and months ago, the day that had changed his life forever. </p><p>Unlike that day though, this time he didn’t need unwatered wine to loosen his tongue. “It wasn’t just spite, was it, Your Majesty?”</p><p>Eugenides sighed and placed his head on his hand, which was in turn placed on his knee. He looked, once again, like a printer’s apprentice, and Costis had never been so glad to see him look like one. </p><p>“To everyone else, I would have said yes. But no, Costis, it wasn’t just spite. Though I’m sure you know that spite played a part in it.”</p><p>“Are you going to tell me what it is?”</p><p>“No,” Eugenides said. Costis fought a sigh of disappointment at that word, but before he could do anything more than that, Eugenides continued. “At least, not now. I won’t even know whether or not he has it until later tonight.”</p><p>“Are you going to see him?”</p><p>“Yes,” the king said. “Actually,” he stood up from his chair and brushed out his clothes, “I should get going now. We’ll talk more later. I do want to know everything about your adventure. But unfortunately, I have an appointment with the kitchens.”</p><p>The stories that Kamet had told him about the sandal polisher he had met during his stay in Attolia, and the revelation that that boy was the king in front of him chose that moment to come together in Costis’s mind, and, before he could think better of it, he said, “Did you truly bite Onarkus?”</p><p>The king turned around in astonishment. “Did he tell you about that?”</p><p>“He told me you bit him. Twice,” Costis said, still having trouble imagining Attolis biting the head cook. </p><p>Eugenides let out a soft laugh. “Don’t tell me you wouldn’t have done it too, given the chance.”</p><p>“I told him that you liked the gardens,” Costis hammered on. “And he told me that that kitchen boy had also liked the gardens.”</p><p>The king’s eyes turned distant. “Yes,” he said, before the mask snaps back into place. “And now I must face Brinna,” he continued with a cheer that Costis now knew to be false. “Let us hope she doesn’t follow your example, Costis, and punch me in the face.”</p><p>Eugenides turned around again, but before he could leave, Costis remembered something he should have said earlier. In the midst of all his anger and bitterness, he forgot. He shouldn’t have. </p><p>“My King,” he called out.</p><p>“Hmm?”</p><p>“I’m sorry,” he said. He didn’t say that he had promised ten gold cups for his king’s safety, and he would have promised ten, twenty, one hundred golden cups if it meant that the child that Attolia had been carrying would have been safe. Would have promised one hundred more if it meant that Attolia herself was safe and healthy. </p><p>After a small silence, Eugenides said, “Thank you, Costis,” and Costis knew that it was for more than the condolence. “Get some rest. I have more planned for you, if you would still accept orders from me.”</p><p>“Always, My King,” he replied. Then, the king exited the room, without a sound this time, and Costis was left, once again, alone, wondering about how Kamet was. </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>THERE IS SO MUCH REFERENCE IN THIS FIC I DON'T EVEN KNOW. thank you for reading, and maybe spare some kudos and comments to support this author in her endeavours?</p></blockquote></div></div>
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